Things to do
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Casares
A white village piled up a hillside below the remains of a Moorish castle, about twenty minutes inland by car. The lanes are too narrow to drive, so park on the road into the village and walk down. From the castle and the church beside it, the view on a clear day reaches Gibraltar and the coast of Africa. A few hours covers it.
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Castillo de San Luis
Stretches of wall and a tower from a sixteenth-century coastal fort survive among the houses on the western side of the old town, close to the Torre del Reloj. There is no interior to tour. It is worth the short detour on a walk through the lanes, and pairs with the clock tower nearby.
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Iglesia de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios
An ochre and white facade and a bell tower capped with coloured tiles make this parish church on the Plaza San Francisco easy to spot from the lanes below. It stands on rising ground at the top of the old town, a few minutes' walk from the Plaza de las Flores. The interior is open outside service times and a short visit is enough.
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Los Reales de Sierra Bermeja
A narrow mountain road climbs from the edge of Estepona to a protected summit area under an hour away, where a rare forest of Spanish fir, the pinsapo, grows on the north slope. A short forest path runs among the trees, and a viewpoint looks down over the coast to Gibraltar. A wildfire in 2021 burned the edges of the forest, and parts of the path have been closed at times since.
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Mirador del Carmen
A slim thirteen-storey tower at the western end of the seafront has a lift to a viewing platform at the top. On a clear day the view runs along the coast to Gibraltar and across the strait to Africa, and inland to the red slopes of the Sierra Bermeja. Tickets are sold at the ground-floor reception, and the lower floors hold exhibitions.
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Orquidario de Estepona
Three glass domes on the edge of the old town hold about 5,000 plants, among them one of the largest orchid collections in Europe, around a tall indoor waterfall with a path that runs behind it. The botanical park outside is free and always open. Inside is ticketed and closed on Mondays, and an hour covers it at an easy pace.
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Playa de la Rada
The town beach runs for over 2 km below the Paseo Marítimo, a wide promenade of palms, benches and gardens that is busy with walkers and cyclists in the evening. The sand is coarse and grey, and the water is usually calm. In summer there are beach bars, showers and lifeguards, and the old town is a short walk inland.
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Playa del Cristo
A small sheltered bay just west of the marina, curved behind a breakwater so the sea stays flat even when the main beach is choppy. It suits young children and a quiet swim. It is a fifteen-minute walk from the old town along the seafront, and in July and August the sand fills by late morning.
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Plaza de las Flores
White lanes run up from the seafront to the Plaza de las Flores, a square of orange trees and café tables with the tourist office at one corner. Every street has its own colour of flower pot fixed to the walls. Around the edges, murals cover whole apartment blocks, some of them seven storeys high, and the tourist office hands out a map of the mural trail.
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Plaza de Toros
This lopsided modern bullring opposite the port entrance houses three small museums under one free entrance: bullfighting, local life, and a palaeontology collection of fossils from the sea that once covered the coast. The fossils are the strongest part. The ring itself holds concerts and theatre in summer, and the museums close on Mondays and at 16:00.
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Puerto de Estepona
Fishing boats share this harbour with the yachts of the marina, landing their catch overnight for a wholesale fish market at dawn that early risers can watch from the quay. On Sunday mornings a craft and produce market fills the marina. The restaurants around the fishing port serve the day's fish; the bars along the marina are more geared to visitors.
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Torre del Reloj
A plain clock tower stands on its own in the small Plaza del Reloj, the last of a church built on the site of the old mosque and used as its bell tower. It takes a minute to see and sits on the walk west from the Plaza de las Flores towards the castle remains.
